Monday, April 18, 2011

Are you collecting Gameday badges? Because if they had a JERRY SANDS: WINS OVER DODGER FANS badge tonight, it would have been yours. In his first major-league at-bat, Sands doubled off Tim Hudson. In his second, Sands drove in an RBI with a sacrifice fly (above). In his third, Sands got buzzed near the noggin by a frustrated Hudson. In his fourth, he struck out against Jairo Asencio. 1-for-3 with an XBH and an RBI. Well done.

In non-Sands-related news, Matt Kemp drove in the Dodgers' first run and Andre Ethier extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the seventh.

Ted Lilly completed the other side of the equation for the Dodgers, demonstrating all the control he didn't have in his first three starts. Lilly held the Braves scoreless, allowing four hits over seven innings and striking out six. He wasn't dominant, but expertly avoided trouble. We like this Lilly.

We're not in love with this Broxton, who can't seem to get out of an inning without allowing the tying run to come to bat. But he eventually got the job done, using 25 pitches and allowing two runs.

Someone just called in and said that Sands' at the plate reminds them of Oyster Pubes. I can actually see what the caller meant. Not an exact parallel but they do both have a certain calm poise around the plate.